Microsoft is trying to reduce its carbon footprint with Windows Update.

A future Windows 11 update could make your PC greener. In the latest Windows Insider preview build released on the Dev channel, Microsoft is testing a new feature that it says could help reduce carbon footprint. Using “regional carbon intensity data”from electricMap and Watttime, Windows will monitor what types of energy your electrical grid is currently using and attempt to install updates “when green energy sources (such as wind, solar, and hydropower) increase). available.

Prior to this, Windows Update dynamic scheduling basically tried to install updates at a time when you were unlikely to be using your computer. This feature will not work if these carbon-intensive data sources are not available in your area, and they also only apply to networked PCs, not those running on battery power. Users can still install updates manually whenever they want.

Elsewhere, the new developer build continues the fast pace of change we’ve seen since Microsoft released its big Windows 11 update to the public last month. The “Open With”dialog that sometimes appears after installing new apps has been changed from the rectangular design of the Windows 8 and 10 era to a new Windows 11 look with the addition of Mica . The Settings app lets you manage advanced settings for your Microsoft account. Improved animation accompanying some touch gestures. Finding things in the Settings app should be more accurate, and the Settings app has been redesigned “for a consistent look and feel across the entire app.”

The build also introduces an incompletely explained new app security feature called “Smart App Control”that will only be enabled on a clean install of this new Insider build. Smart App Control provides “enhanced protection against untrusted apps,”but first it will evaluate your system for an undisclosed period of time to “see if it can help you protect you without getting in your way too much.”If it doesn’t “get in the way too much”, it will stay on. If this happens, it will turn itself off. A security feature that turns itself off if it does its job too well sounds weird, but we’ll have to wait until Microsoft reveals more about what it does and how it works.

Microsoft says not all of the features documented in its post will be available to all Windows Insiders, in line with the promise of more experimental A/B testing in Windows Insider builds this year. Several features that were only rolled out to select Insiders in previous builds – a redesigned task manager, more available commands for the voice input accessibility feature, and others – should be available to all Insiders starting with this build.

Image listing from Microsoft